Quick, with a whippy action, and accurate - Vishwa Fernando has come into the Sri Lankan bowling scene as a breath of fresh air. He started off fairly young and sprung into focus in his first season itself in 2012, where he finished with 26 wickets, thanks predominantly to his raw pace - something that saw him being fast-tracked into the national setup by the end of 2013.

With the likes of Eranga, Pradeep, Prasad and Malinga going around at the time, Fernando had to wait on the fringes on a couple of overseas tours. He returned back to the domestic fold the following year, and finished as the 2014-15 Premier League Tournament's most impressive pacer, finishing with 40 wickets at an average of under 22.

His debut came against the touring Aussies in 2016 on surfaces tailor-made for the host spinners - so much so that in his first game where he was the lead pacer, 19 wickets were taken by the spinners and he didn't even bowl in the second innings. As captains and fast bowlers were on musical circles in Sri Lanka, an ODI and T20I debut duly came about against India the following year.

It was with the bat however, as a number eleven, that his career-defining moment came in 2019, when Fernando hung around with a rampaging Kusal Perera to put on 78 runs for the final wicket to help Sri Lanka pull off an unimaginable victory against South Africa in Durban. He topped with a four-wicket hauk in the next game at Port Elizabeth in sealing the series 2-0, topping the wicket charts and playing a crucial role in Sri Lanka's first ever series win in the African nation.

With a calm head on his shoulders and a good pace in his armoury, Fernando could well be a potent force for sides to deal with, especially in the longer format.


Written by - Vineet Anantharaman